Orbitals

We're each a big mush of chemicals surrounded by chemicals, and figuring out which of these chemicals are helpful, versus harmful, is complicated. Our executive producer, George Zaidan, takes on that challenge in his new book Ingredients: The strange chemistry of what we put in us and on us. I chat with him about some of what he found, and how he found it.

Ingredients is on bookstore shelves now: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599202/ingredients-by-george-zaidan/

Forensic toxicologists are frequently portrayed in shows like CSI and Bones, but what do they actually do? In this episode our writer and host, Samantha Jones, PhD, chats with seasoned forensic toxicologist Robert Middleberg, PhD, as he recounts a case that has stayed with him for decades.

A potential vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 went into Phase I clinical trials in Seattle mid-March. So what exactly is being tested? How much longer will these tests take? And when can we expect a vaccine? To answer those questions I chatted with Dr. Benjamin Neuman, one of the world's experts on coronaviruses, and Daniel Wrapp, one of the scientists who mapped the structure of the protein this virus uses to infect your cells.

Right now our team's focus has shifted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ACS and PBS Digital Studios series, Reactions, has become the priority and will be our way of getting coronavirus and COVID-19-related content out to the public. You can find our latest videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2pMVimI2bw&t=

And follow us on social media: Twitter https://twitter.com/ACSReactions Instagram https://www.instagram.com/acsreactions/?hl=en Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ACSReactions/

Early-1900s New York City was a place of utter chaos—a place where poisoners reigned supreme. That is, until a unique duo stepped in and started to win the long-fought battle between scientists and poisoners, creating the field of forensic toxicology in the process.

This episode, we'll dive into the history of poisoning, and stories that defined the Roaring Twenties.

This week we chat with DC-based author Sam Kean about his most recent work: The Bastard Brigade, a book about a group of scientists and military commanders during World War II who were trying to stop the Nazis from creating an atomic bomb.

In this episode, get ready to hear about some eccentric characters, sabotage, and--of course--chemistry.

The parasitic roundworm Strongyloides stercoralis crawls through contaminated soil in search of one thing – human flesh. Often no more than a millimeter in size, it's currently estimated to be hanging out in the intestines of over 300 million people worldwide.

How it finds us has a lot to do with the chemicals we're giving off.

On a body farm, scientists collect information from donated corpses to understand how things like weather and the positioning of a body will affect human decomposition. Why should we care? This knowledge is used to help law enforcement not only find the bodies of victims--who are often murdered--but figure out how they died.

In the 1960s the drug thalidomide caused over 10,000 babies across the globe to be born with deformed limbs. Scientist Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey blocked its production in the US, saving countless lives. But since then thalidomide has been approved by the FDA. Why?

Today we tackle how thalidomide's chemistry caused a pharmaceutical disaster and why it's still around. You'll hear from two researchers: one in the US and one in Brazil, a place where there are still cases of thalidomide embryopathy.

Amphetamines have a troubled past that has carried into the present, but they can also greatly improve some people's lives. This week on Orbitals, we're asking: What do amphetamines do to our bodies? How are they used in medicine? And when did they become so prevalent in society?